The Insider
The Insider
So there is was, in this cell, and for something I didn’t do. I was in here with Joey ‘Cue ball’ Jones, everybody called him that because he was supposed to have killed a guy with nothing but a Cue ball but I knew the real reason. It was because he was bald as a Cue ball but nobody but me knew that cause he was always wearing his hat and I’m the only guy that’s ever seen him with it off, and my name, well everybody knew my name, Frank ‘The Don’ Tulli. I was the leader of my crew and nobody messed with me that’s how I got the name ‘The Don’. Now here we were Joey and me, sitting in this rat infested, hell hole that the called a ‘nice cell’. I’d seen better places at the local junkyard.
Now to tell you we got into this place. Ill start from when I was a very young boy growing up in the Bronx as most people know its not a very nice place, I mean even the dogs went around with knifes. Well I lived in a rundown apartment above the local store. My dad wasn’t doing well in work so this was all we could afford but it was a very nice place smashed windows, no carpets just the floor boards well the ones that where still there, and our local neighbours the rats. You could say it was a very well looked after place.
My dad was a very hard workingman, always did his best for the family and took care of us. Until one day when I was out playing, the local bully, Tony Marco, at school approached me and he started pushing me around. I was a shy kid so I just let have what he wanted but then my dad saw when he was coming pick me up. He went straight over to this kid and slapped him on the back of the head, the kid ran off crying and that was it. Later that night the, while were having dinner, the door goes my dad gets up and goes opens the door and stands there frozen as if he’s seen a ghost, I looked towards the door and I see the bully and his dad standing there, All dressed in black, a black hat long black trench coat black suit and black shoes. My dad starts to shake saying ‘ I didn’t know it was your kid, honest I didn’t mean it I’m sorry I’m sorry It wont happen again’ and then this kids dad says ‘You’re right it wont’ and pulls out a shotgun from under his trench coat and kills my dad right there in front of my eyes, then just leaves as if nothing happened.
I just started to cry and shout ‘Dad Get up, Get up Dad Please’ but he didn’t move I felt my heart stop and my whole mind just went blank then red with rage and anger. My mom ran to me and grabbed me tight to her but I didn’t even feel it all I could feel was rage and anger. I just wanted to kill Tony and his dad. That’s all I could think as I watched the blood flow from my dads body and onto the floorboards soaking them red as a rose petal.
The next day the police came to get all the information about the night before, from what I heard them saying Tony’s dad was the leader of a big crime organization not that I knew what that meant that the age of seven. I watched as the policemen tried to comfort my mom all she was doing was crying and looking at the spot where my dad lay. I didn’t shed a tear cause I was too enraged I didn’t know how to cry anymore.
The day of the funeral and it wasn’t a big turn out just me my mother and the priest, I watched with sorrow as they lowered my dad into the ground all I wanted was for him to just come out of that box and put his arms round me and tell me everything was going to be ok but that wasn’t going to happen. I remember the day of the funeral the most because just as we were coming out of the cemetery I saw this big black car drive past and in the back was Tony’s dad laughing as if it was just another day and for him it was but for me I knew from that moment on that I just wanted revenge for my father.
A few years later, I was about thirteen-I think; I was visiting my father’s grave. It was a dark cloudy day and I could tell it was going to rain so I laid my flowers said what I had to say and then started my walk home. To stay out of the rain, that had just started as I left the cemetery’ I took the back streets, until about five blocks from home I heard some muffled shouting down the alley then some gunshots. I froze with the vision of my father’s death passing my eyes. Then I felt the same rage and anger I felt that night and I ran down the alley to find out what happened and as I got closer I saw the same black hat and black trench coat as that night and I started to slow down at the figure turned, I felt myself come to a complete stop as I got to the figure. I couldn’t believe it, it wasn’t the person I thought it was it was Tony Marco. He looked at me, this scared little kid in his eyes, and laughed then walked away got into a black car and drove off. I stood there not knowing what I had seen; Tony could have only been about eighteen and was already walking in the twisted crooked shadow of his father. I looked down at the body that lay in a dirty puddle, blood covered the face but I got a horrifying image as I looked into the dead eyes of this man I saw my face on this body and I froze again just staring at these eyes, seeing myself lying there. I started to run I didn’t know where I was going, I didn’t care I just ran to get away from the horrifying images of the alley.
I got home and just went straight to my room and drifted into sleep when I woke up there was total silence which was unusual come there was always the sound of the TV or of my mum cooking or singing. I got out of bed and walked into the living room nobody there I went to the other bedroom nobody, the bathroom was locked I banged on the door nothing came from the other side so I booted it in and there was my mother laying face down in the bath filled with blood. I screamed loud as I could. Then I found myself awake in a cold sweet in my own bed, I didn’t know what happened I couldn’t have been dreaming cause it was so real but that’s what it was all a dream my mother was cooking dinner. I was scared of what my mind was doing to me I didn’t want to go back to sleep for fear of the thoughts that would flood my dreams but I was too tired to stay awake so I just laid on the couch in the living room watching TV.
I remember that when I was seventeen I started hanging around with the local ‘bad crowd’ as my mom called them but they were my friends there was Joey Jones, Dave Tudesci, Johnny Forbes and Al Goranza. We all met through school and had knew each other for a few years so we were good friends well except Johnny he moved here two years ago and didn’t have many friends so we took him into our crew and since then we’ve been all good friends. They all called me the leader or as I am now known ‘The Don’ of our crew.
We would all look out for each other and commit small thefts to put it nicely we didn’t rob old ladies we just did what we needed to do to get by.
There was this one time that me and Joey saw a rich guy, you know the type walks around strutting his stuff like he’s some big shot with his fancy clothes, gold watch, and long over coat. So Joey and me decided we would hit him, we watched him for a couple of days, to learned everything we needed to know, like where he went, what times he was at a place and most of all when he was alone. About three days passed and the crew had came up with a plan to hit the guy in old man’s alley so Joey and me waited behind a dumpster and Al and Johnny stood across the street watching. Then this guy walks in a few steps, stops and pulls out a smoke and lights it. That’s when Al and Johnny come across the road and start running at the guy, he notices them and starts to run down the alley, and then Joey and me come out in front of him, the guy stops and looks back and forth, at Joey and me then Al and Johnny. Then I looks at him and I don’t know what happened but I just felt this rage and anger building up inside me, all I could see was Tony’s dad standing there and then I flew at this guy, I didn’t want his money or his clothes I just wanted to hurt him bad. I was swinging punch after punch after punch hard as I could until Joey and Al grabbed me off this guy. I looked down at him with a blind rage then I looked at Joey and he gave me a kind of a blank stare as if he didn’t know who I was and at that moment I didn’t know who I was, then I heard Johnny say ‘Hey guys, this guy aint breathing’. We all turned quickly and looked at the guy’s face it was riddled with bruises and blooded covered, I watched as the blood ran down his face and onto the ground staining it red. I froze, and the vision of my father lying on the ground, blood ridden, flashed through my head. That’s when I realised this was the same alley I saw Tony kill that innocent just like I had done just now, I killed an innocent guy, the weird thing was that it felt good because all I could see was Tony’s dad. Joey turned to me and said ‘ Come on Frank lets get outta here before somebody spots us, come on man’. Again I was running from the same alley just like before I didn’t know where I was going or neither did I care we all just ran. We spotted two blocks short of my house, all the guys wanted to go home but I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be able to bare sitting in my house with my mom pretending nothing had happened so Joey decided I’d go with him. We got to his house and went straight to his room, it was a palace compared with my tent of a room, he had a double bed, with dark blue sheets all I had was a dirty mattress and had a TV in his room even though it was small and black and white it was more than I could have hoped for, when I stepped into that room I felt small compared to Joey and not just cause he was five inches taller than me. We sat in his room all night, his mom made us a grand buffet, well to me, to Joey it was just his dinner but it was more than I got. That night I remember I couldn’t go to sleep because anytime I shut my eyes I saw that guy just lying there with his hand stretched out to me asking me to stop but I couldn’t.
The next day came and I watched out the window as the postman delivered the mail and the shop owners came to open up shop, it was round about seven A.M when Joey woke up, I just looked at him then I told him I had to leave, he just nodded and I got up and left. I got down the stairs outside his house and turned left and set off to get home, however I was never to get home. As I walked down the street I remembered that I would have to go past the alley to get home, so once it came to it I crossed the road and decided to run by it fast as I could, so I started to run but just as I did I was grabbed and pulled to the side, I kicked and screamed then a hand went over my mouth, I calmed down and in front of me was an old man with a white hat and white suit on, he looked me in the eye and smiled he started to talk ‘ Hey kid, I saw what you did yesterday…’ I froze like stone. ‘ Yeah I was right across the street watching from my window and I must say you got some balls kid. You took that guy down easy and pummelled him good, you also saved me a bullet or two’ He laughed. ‘I got a lil job for, you would you like that, It don’t matter coz yer gonna do it anyways. I want you to take this letter and deliver it to a woman standing in a doorway two streets down, you’ll know her she’s got a crazy get up on she has a long red dress on with a pink scarf and one of those big hats, you know the ones right. Now if you don’t do this for me or you read the letter ill know and the same will happen to as u did to that guy, but if you do this for me with no excuses then you can work for me and ill pay you generously ok kid, now get out of here’. He gave me the letter and the other guy let me go, I ran down the street thinking that this was a bad dream, but as he said two streets down there she was this beautiful woman standing in a doorway wearing everything he said. I walked up to her and she looked at me and smiled ‘Hey there kid aren’t you a cuite’ I gave her the letter and then stood and watch her open it. She read it and her face suddenly changed from a smile to a look of utter sorrow, she burst into tears and fell to her knees and that’s when I knew it this was the wife of the guy I had killed. I didn’t want to stick around so I just ran fast as the wind till I go home. I walked into the living room and my mom walked straight over to me and slapped me on the back of the head and shout ‘ Where the hell have you been?’ I just looked at her and walked away into my room, but as I sat down on my bed I was disturbed by the sound on the TV ‘A local factory manager was killed yesterday, supposedly because he was involved in a mafia deal that went bad…’ I stood up sharply and walked to the doorway so I could see the TV and it flashed pictures of the dead guys face and showed his wife, the woman I had just delivered the new to myself, crying in her house talking to police. My mom turned to me and said ‘what’s wrong? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost’ I just went back to my bad and buried my head under the pillow and fell asleep. I was awoken by the sound of a banging on the door; I got out of bed and went to answer it as I opened the door I notices the same white suit I had seen today, I quickly tried to slam the door but a foot appeared in the doorway and the door was thrown open and there he was the same old man from today. He looked at me and said ‘ You did good today kid and as I said now your working for me you’ll be my messenger and along with that you’ll do some other odd jobs’ My mom came out of her room and started screaming, the old man looked at one of his thugs and he ran over and grabbed my mom with his hand over her mouth, she went quite, ‘ Now son’ he said ‘ don’t worry about our mom she will be taken care of and so will you, you’ll work for me get paid well as long as u work well and you’ll have a life better than you could have hoped for now come with me’. Even though I didn’t want to go with him, I felt myself moving towards him as if some force was pulling me. As we walked down the stairs he talked more ‘ Kid my name is Lou Riggiazi and I am a very well respected man, I am the Don of my mafia outfit and I saw real potential in you and that’s why I want you working for me. Now you’ve proved your strong after what you did yesterday, and today you proved your trustworthy and smart since you did what I asked you, and it is very smart to always do what I want’. That’s when I stopped listening even though he kept talking I didn’t want to listen I was just worrying about my mom and what was going to happen to her. We got outside and we got into his long black limo, then we drove off and I looked out the back window up at my house and I saw my mom standing at the window crying, I watched until she was a small dot in the dark landscape.
I woke the next day and found myself in a house I had never been to before it was like something out of a movie, all the walls were papered, all the floors carpeted, and all the windows filled with glass. I walked into the kitchen and there he was, sitting at the table in his white silk shirt and white silk trousers eating breakfast, Lou, he turned and signalled me to come and sit at the table, I did and in front of me was a big plate filled with scrambled eggs, two strips of bacon, tomato, two pieces of toast and beans. I wolfed it down like I had never been fed before, Lou laughed as I eat my breakfast. Once we had finished he led me into the living room and told me to sit down on the couch, he walked up and down for a moment then turned and said ‘Kid I have another job for you and after this you’ll get your first pay, What I want you to do is go down to that garage…’ He point out the window across the road. ‘ and put this package in the front sheet of the blue Chevy that’s sitting in the parking lot, there’s some clothes in the wardrobe in your room you can wear now get going kid and don’t let anybody see you’. I got up and went back to the room where I had awoke, and went over to this giant wardrobe, I opened both the doors at the same time and I was amazed at all the clothes that was there. I grabbed a white shirt and some black trousers, socks and shoes. I quickly got dressed and then stopped and looked at the package, I knew what it was but I was too scared not to go through with it so I walked back into the kitchen and was about to leave out the back door when Lou shouted ‘Hey kid c’mere give me that…’ He took the package and opened it up and fiddled around with something inside it, I knew he was setting the timer, he gave it back to me with the lid back on and then said ‘ You better get going kid you aint got a lot of time’ He laughed as I walked out the door. I felt the cold air against my face as I walked round the house and up the side alley, as I came to the opening I saw lots of people just walking around and I felt everyone of them staring at me as if they knew what I had done and what I was going to do. I crossed the street and slowly walked into the garage, I sneaked round the back so nobody would see me, I crouched and shuffled over to the Chevy, opening the front door slowly and placing the package on the seat, then I shuffled back to the side of the garage then ran round the back and walked slowly out of the alley and into the street, I didn’t know if anybody had seen me or not but I didn’t care I just wanted to get out of that place quick as I could, so I ran across the street and stood in a doorway and waited. A guy in a blue suit with short brown hair came out of the garage and got into the car and just as he shut the door it happened. Boom the bomb went off and the pieces of the car spread out like Lego blocks being smashed, there was metal everywhere and I watched as the body of this innocent guy flew through the air and landed in the middle of the road with a heart stopping thud. I walked down the street and went back up the alley to the back door, I stepped inside and Lou was laughing but my face had no emotion because I didn’t know what to feel, He handed me an envelop and I went back to my room, I sat on the edge of the bed and open the envelop and took out the cash and that’s when I knew I was part of the mafia I fell back onto the bed and stared at the sealing and closed my eyes and drifted into a wake-less night.
Few years along the line and I was an established member of the Riggiazi’s, I had my own crew and a few small businesses that I ran. My crew consisted of my friends from my younger years there was Joey ‘Cue ball’ Jones, Dave ‘Shark’ Tudesci, Johnny ‘Shrimp’ Forbes and Al ‘Hitman’ Goranza. When I was told that I could have my own crew I picked my old friends cause I knew I could trust them and it would be like the old gang back together. I brought them in when I was sent to do my own job up in Vegas I needed some guys to help me out Lou gave me a few of his men but I decided I need two more for this job, so I phoned Joey and Johnny and got them into my crew. The job was to hit two of the small casinos at the same time, cause to have a good organization you got to have a little backing money, so the ones we picked out where Circus Circus and a little local casino called The Gold Coral. The plan was that we would create a distraction on the floor of both casinos which would draw out most of the security so that the vaults were easy access, so I sent Johnny a few of Lou’s guys to The Gold Coral and me, Joey and the rest went to Circus Circus, now we had set it up so that both sets of Lou’s goons would start a bust up with security on both floors at round about eight P.m, so just close to that time me, Joey and another of Lou’s goons went round back of Circus Circus up to the loading bay and that’s what Johnny and two of the other goons did at Gold Coral. It hit eight and we crept in through the back and down some stairs toward a security point we waited in the shadows until we heard the guards coming up to stop he fight at was happening and that was our cue so we busted through the doors and headed for the vault only to be met by about fifteen guards so we started firing one by one they went down and they weren’t even getting close to hitting any of us until one of Lou’s boys got trigger happy and stood out in the middle of the corridor, he got blasted away, but eventually we got all the guards and was home free for the vault we got there and open it up, Joey kept watch while me and Lou’s boy filled the two duffle bags he was carrying we got as much as we could and headed out of the place. We got back to the loading bay and sprinted out of the joint towards a back alley where we were to meet Johnny and the other boys, we must have waited about an hour before that dumb-fuck realised he was at the wrong place and came got us with his two bags, from what he had told me the guys he was with had either been shot or arrested, anyway for Johnny’s dumbness he earned the name ‘Shrimp brain’ or ‘Shrimp’ for short. We got back to the hotel we were staying at but we didn’t go to our rooms we just got in our cars and drove out of town back to our real homes.
Now about getting Dave and Al into the crew that was a different story, see cause those two guys didn’t want to come and join us they wanted to go the ‘straight and narrow’ as they called it but anyway we threatened them with there lives and funny thing they agreed to join us. Now I need to get them cause our next job Lou didn’t want to give me any more of his men so I needed the extra guys, and I already knew Al was a crack shot, after training to be a cop, so we called him ‘Hitman’
And Dave well he was a smart but ruthless kind of guy just like a ‘Shark’ so that’s where he got his name.
Well now I had my whole crew back together again, I was ready for the next job and this wasn’t going to be as bad as the last one but it was still a hard job. Lou wanted my boys and me to go round to ‘The Vicenzo’s’ factory and shut it down, because that was there prime source of income, if they don’t have money, they would crumble easy when it came to a war with the ‘Riggiaza’s’. We planned the whole thing out sweet, real nice; if everybody did exactly what they were to do nobody would get hurt. It was a simple but effective plan, we were just going to walk straight up to the factory and shut it down, I had Al watching our back from the roof top across the street and Joey and me would go in through the front door while Johnny and Dave would go through the back to catch anybody that tried to get out.
The night of the hit came and we tooled up, Al had his rifle and his pistol, I had my pistol and my machine gun, Joey had his shotgun, Dave had hi pistol and a lead pipe and Johnny thought he was a marine and tried to take a machine gun and a shotgun but he just gave him a pistol and told him to shut up. We got to the factory about nine P.m, the way we figured it was that if anybody who was around at that time had to be important, so we waited till Al got his spot on the roof then we sent Dave and Johnny round back, once they got there me and Joey went straight in through the front door. Nobody heard us because the sound of the machines, Pumping and banging. I saw Johnny and Dave standing just inside at the backdoor while me and Joey snooped around and after about two minutes of walking around the place we noticed the stairs up to the office, where there was a light on, so we went up and sneaked up to the door, Joey leaned over to the window and signalled that there was two guys in there so I stood a little bit back from the door, and with a swift boot to the door it swung open and I fired at the two guys, they were dead before they could take another bite of there donuts, after I stopped firing Joey ran in and searched the guys and found out one was a security guard and the other was the manager, I looked at him with a blank look that told him I didn’t really care. Right then we heard a short blast of a pistol and sharply turned round and saw that Johnny was standing with his pistol pointed to a corner of the factory, I ran down the stairs and point my gun at the same corner and slowly approached it only to find a pigeon lying dead on the ground, I turned to the now sheepish looking Johnny and slapped him across the face, he went back to the back door and stood while me and Joey took the bomb Dave had and stuck it right in the middle of the factory, set it and got the hell out of the place. We walked out of the car park as the bomb went off blowing the building behind us to a charred pile of metal, while this happened Johnny fell to the ground, the rest of us just laughed and kept walking while he got up and walked on.
Shortly after that night ‘The Vicenzo’s’ Don, Vitto Vicenzo, ordered a war with the ‘Riggiaza’s’ it lasted a few months until it was starting to lean very much in our direction and I was sent with my crew to finish off Vitto it didn’t take much to find him, he was always at his pool hall, so me and my boys just busted into the place guns blazing and bodies dropping and while my boys watched down stairs I went up stairs to Vitto’s Office and sure enough there he was sitting at his desk, looking all calm, that was until I pulled out my machine gun, that’s when he started screaming like a little girl, I laughed as I filled him full of lead, then that was the job done we I went back down stairs and me and the boys went back to our hide away.
Us winning that war made us the second biggest crime family behind ‘The Marco’s’. They where the biggest family at the time, nobody had even thought of challenging them. I was disgusted with this and wanted nothing more than to just get rid of all of them especially Tony and his Father.
It was coming to the end of Lou’s years, as he was dying from cancer, he was still to chose his successor as he didn’t have any of his own kids there was a few guys in the running there was Eddie ‘Madcap’ Jones, but he was a loser he was only in the running cause he was working with Lou from the beginning and nobody really liked him that much, then there was Roberto ‘Crazy’ Flamingo, now this guy was exactly as his name say he was a real nut bar all he did was go around killing people innocent or not it didn’t matter to him he was a ruthless killer and was in the running cause Lou thought that Roberto would kill him anyways and finally there was me I probably had the best chance because I wasn’t a nut bar or a coward and Lou had always respected me I was like a son to him, so I was the front runner. So when it came to Lou’s final hours he called all three of us before him, one by one we went into his office and all stood proudly before him, he began to talk very slowly and painfully ‘ Now you all know why you are here today… and none of you have need for an introduction as we all know each other, Today I name my successor, the new Don to the Riggiaza’s’. He got open and shuffled round his desk and stood in front of Eddie placing a hand on his face he said ‘Eddie you’re a good kid and have been with me from the start and I know you would make as good a Don as me, you have been a loyal friend and have never let me down’. He slowly turned and with a few painful steps came next to Roberto he faced his small, wrinkled, pale head up and looked Roberto in the eyes and said ‘ Your one crazy son of a bitch, you are, but that’s what I like about you, you never argue when there’s people to be killed, you’re a maniac but you’re a good member of this family and always have been and you have earned my respect, as have you all’. He turned and looked at me and started to speak as he walked towards me ‘ I remember when I took you in as a lil scared kid, you were small but you had a big set of balls and you still got them today, from the moment I saw you kill that guy in that alley I knew you would be a great member of our family and you have been, you were loyal, smart and trustworthy then and you still are today. When I told you, you could have your own crew you brought in your friends, I must admit I didn’t like it at much first but you boys have done us proud and helped us with very big jobs that have made us the second biggest crime family and I believe you can make us the biggest crime family in history and that’s why I have chosen you to become my successor when I die’. As those words came out of his mouth I saw Roberto and Eddie turn like a hawk and stare a hole in my head while they had facial explosions or rage and anger, they both thought they should have become Don and I knew this and that’s why I knew if I was to survive I would have to get rid of both of them. I looked at Lou and smiled and with a shake of hands I turned and left the room, I could hear Roberto and Eddie’s mumbled rants as I walked down the hall laughing.
Now that I was the official Don I had to plan on how to kill Eddie and Roberto, now Eddie would be the easiest because he was stupid and a coward so I wouldn’t have to waste to much energy on hitting him but Roberto was a different story it would be like a gang war just to kill this guy he had over two hundred men working for him and through fear of him killing them they would die for him. So I decided to get the easy job out of the way first and hit Eddie. I made a plan up that I would send him and his guys to take out a warehouse that I told him was owned by ‘The Marco’s’ but really it was owned by us I told him that he wouldn’t need many of his guys even though I knew he would take most of them. So I set it up that when he got to the warehouse he was supposed to blow it up after killing all the workers but when he got there he was in for a big surprise, he took his men inside and saw that the whole place was empty and as he tried to get out my boys sealed up all the exits with chains and then they got as far as they needed away from the building before I got out of my car two warehouses down and used my remote to blow the whole warehouse to tiny bits and that was the end of Eddie and his men some I could have use but they could be replaced.
Now time to get Roberto, this wasn’t going to be easy, I would have to plan this for weeks and everything would have to go perfect if we were to pull it off. I had some of my guys follow Roberto around so that we could know where he was going to go and where he was going to be at any given time, we did this for about three weeks until we got his routine down to every step of it. Now we had all the info you’d think we could just wait till he was alone and do it but it wasn’t that easy cause this guy was always with his top five men, and they would die for this guy, so now that we had the info we had to come up with a way of getting him on his own or at least down to just him and two of his men.
I set up a ‘top secret’ mission for Roberto and his men. I sent them straight into ‘Marco’ territory and I figured soon as any of Tony’s guys saw Roberto and his men they’d open up fire and hopefully take some of his guys out, but Roberto got through the place clean which I found very suspicious so I started watching them even closer and from rumours I found out that Roberto and his men did get spotted but nothing happened to any of them, so I figured he was playing both sides and that made the incentive to get rid of this guy even bigger.
Now I knew the guy was a traitor I had to step up plans to get rid of him and quickly. I got Joey, Johnny and Al to pay a visit to two of Roberto’s guys and take them out which they did now we had to get rid of at least one more, so we sent out a recruitment message to all the local pool halls and got a group of about twenty thugs and set them loose on Roberto’s remaining top guys, those guys put up one hell of a fight but at the end of it all only one of them survived.
Everything was set now we had the info and it was only Roberto and his last top man at stood in my way of being the Don without any threats.
I had been planning Roberto’s death for about three and a half weeks now, I was going to hit him when he was at his home it was his most vulnerable point, cause he would be looking after his family and wouldn’t have his guard up cause he was so big headed he didn’t think anybody would come to his house. The night of the hit came and I was park just up the street from his house and I had Joey and Al walking in an alley across the street and Dave and Johnny lying in wait round the back of the house, the clock hit twelve and we all closed in on his house. Joey and Al sneaked in through the front door while Dave and Johnny broke open the back door, I waited outside, there was a lot of glass breaking sounds and some muffled screams then all of a sudden ‘no mans land’ silence. I waited about ten minutes before they brought a blooded and bruised body down stairs, they knelled him in front of me and I took out my pistol and put it to his head, but then I caught sight of his son sitting at the window crying his eyes out. I turned to Joey and told him ‘Well do this somewhere else to many witnesses’. Joey nodded and grabbed Roberto and dragged him to his car and threw him in the trunk.
We drove to the docks and got Roberto out of the trunk and knelled him at the end of the pier, I wanted to know what his connection with ‘The Marco’s’ was so I asked him ‘Why didn’t they kill you and your men? , Are both us working together?’ He didn’t answer so I gun bucked him a few times repeating it over and over again, until he finally cracked. He told me everything he knew and it came out that he was planning on handing over the whole family to ‘The Marco’s’ if he became Don, he told me that he had a connection at a local garage round from our H.Q, a smuck mechanic. Once he told me all he knew I put my gun to his head and with an ear rattling bang he fell back into the water and fell into a watery grave.
Now that I had both my enemies out of the way it was time to hit the big time. I had my men spread through the town like a cancer, raiding pool hall after pool hall for recruits, robbing store after store for funding, and killing all those that stood in our way. I did this because I wanted it all, I wanted to be the biggest crime family there was and to do that I had to shut down ‘The Marco’s’ organization, that was easier said than done.
I had control of just under half the city and Tony had control of the rest, I wanted his half and he wanted mine, so I was going to give it to him and In this gain the whole city for myself, now you might think this is a crazy idea but that’s what had got me this far crazy idea’s.
My plan was to call a meeting between ‘The Riggiaza’s’ and ‘The Marco’s’ to ‘work out’ our differences. I knew Tony wouldn’t come unless I gave him a good enough reason so I sent out word that I was calling this meeting to announce that I was getting out of the game and I was giving up my part of the city to him and his family. Now I had his attention, so I went to see Roberto’ connection the mechanic, we paid him a little visit to get some information and that we got. This guy was tough but not stupid he saw us coming and straight away burst into tears and told us more than I was going to ask, I was only wanting to know how many men Tony was going to bring to the meeting but this smuck told me ‘Tony is going to the meeting and soon as he gets your half of the city he’s going after the federal reserve he’ gonna rob it and blame it on your family’. This didn’t please me at all so I decided to take Tony’s plan and reverse it on him. I told Joey, Dave, Johnny and Al about my plan and they were all in on it I only told them cause I knew I could trust them or so I thought.
The next day I finds Dave and Al beating on Joey in an alley, I stopped them pummelling Joey and then asked them what was going on Dave turned with a disgruntled look and said ‘ This rat was talking to the feds, I saw him, he must have been telling them about your plan, so me and Al was gonna make sure he couldn’t say no more’. I looked at Joey and I could see in his eyes that he was ashamed so I told him to get up and tell me his side of the story, a broken and battered face started to talk ‘I was only minding my own business when the feds came to me and offered me some cash if I would rat on you guys but I swear on my mama’s life I didn’t do nuttin, I swear, I didn’t say nuttin, you gotta believe me please Frankie please’. I looked at Joey for a minute then I turned and told Dave and Al to follow me and I walked away and round the corner and back to my house. I told Dave and Al to keep an eye on Joey and report back to me if they saw him with the feds again but don’t hurt him, I figured if Joey had the feds involved it would make my plan a lot easier and if he was talking to the feds he could go down with Tony and his crew.
The day of the meeting came and I had twelve guys surrounding the building and fifteen guys on the rooftops watching over the place and inside I had my top men and about ten thugs with me. I was surprised when Tony turned up because he only had about ten guys with him and only two of his top men, I could have killed him right there and it would all be mine, but I decided just to go through with my plan. Tony looked around for a while, he was still wearing his long black coat and black suit on, I got a quick flash of the alley where I had first seem him wearing it. He smiled and started to talk ‘Frankie you’ve done well for yourself, you’ve got loyal men by your side and your starting to challenge me and my family for first prize, so I wonder why your giving it all up and I figured your either trying to screw me over, which wouldn’t be a good idea, or you’ve become a coward and gotten scared of all the violence and crime, so which is it Frankie?’ I looked at him and told him I just wanted to go straight, he laughed a ground breaking laugh, I told him that I was getting scared and to prove it I would rob the federal reserve for him if he would allow me to use some of his men, he seemed amazed and then bewildered, he composed himself for a moment and then nodded and point two six of the men that where with him and signalled them to go with me, then he walked back to his car and just before he got in said ‘These men will carry the money, them and only them will bring it back to me and then you will disappear’ with that he got back into his car and was gone. All the pieces of my plan were falling into place and Tony was none the wiser, he even made it easier for me to blame the bank job on him by giving me his own men.
I had already planned the bank job so I decided we’ d do it that day, so I got all my guys together and headed to the reserve I had Dave and Al take the six of Tony’s guys and head round the back while me, Joey, Johnny and six of our guys went straight in the front door. We got inside and open fire at the guards, I dived behind one of the counters and Joey did the same while the rest of our guys ran forward starting a barrage of bullets, I watched as they killed Johnny, his body being throw like a wrecking ball against the wall as the bullet hit his head. Joey got up in fit of rage at the sight and started firing wildly he got three guards and I stood up and fired until I heard my gun clicking, then the place fell on a deaf man silence. I looked around as bodies of both my men and guards lay like fallen gravestones on the floor. There was only me, Joey and two thugs left so we headed for the vaults fast as we could, cause he didn’t want to pretend nobody had heard us, I got to the back window and signalled to Dave and Al to bring the other guys inside. We got to the vault door and I had my two thugs open it and as it slowly opened, we were hit by this heavenly sight of gold, it was like the sun was contained in this room. We all stood in gaze for a moment, then I sent the six guys in to fill the bags with as much as the could carry, the rest of us kept watch and with the distant sound of police sirens getting louder, I shouted at the guys to hurry up. The bags got full and we headed out the back entrance and through the alleys to a local laundrette where we hide the bags in the washing machines and changed our clothes into white aprons and street clothes. We waited there for about three hours before we decided to let somebody venture outside and see what was going on, I sent out one of Tony’s guys out front and we watched him as we stood outside and looked around then signalled it was all clear, then came back inside. Now it was time to live up to my word and send Tony’s guys back with the money, well kind of.
Tony sat at the top floor window of his H.Q awaiting the arrival of his six men with the cash, and at about half past seven his wish was granted, or so he thought, there they were his men marching up the stairs and into the building. He sat and waited, as he heard the loud footsteps coming upstairs and as the door burst open and the figured lifted his head, the smile on his face disappeared and out came an open mouthed look of horror. It was me who stood there before him with the cash; he didn’t know what to do, because he hadn’t planned on this, he didn’t think I would have been this smart or crazy. I didn’t let him say a word I just pulled out my gun and with a glass cracking boom, he fell from his chair and onto the floor, his blood soaked the carpet as my fathers blood did to the floor boards all those years ago, and with a smile on my face I left with the cash and back to my home. From a pay phone down on the corner I made an anonymous call to the feds and told them that I was a witness to the bank job and they would find the money in a local laundrette and the six members of ‘The Marco’s’ gang that did it tied up in the basement.
The next day while I was enjoying my breakfast, my house was raided and the feds came upstairs and arrested me for the bank job, I was shocked at how they knew it was me, nothing had went wrong everything was perfect, I kicked and screamed all the way down the stairs and into there car and looked around as all the neighbourhood was out clapping as the car drove off. They interrogated me day and night but I didn’t tell them nothing so they put me in a cell with Joey and that brings me back to the start. Now I’m sitting in here waiting on something to happen so that I can get out of this hellhole, and here comes my saviour, the police captain with his shiny new badge and his well-pressed dark blue suit and nice polished black shoes. He opened the cell door and looked at Joey then me and then said ‘Frank Tulli your free to go’. I laughed as Joey’s jaw dropped and as I walked out of the cell I whispered into Joey’s ear you should have made a deal with the feds when you had the chance, I was the insider. The cops held Joey back as he tried to swing a punch at me and I just laughed as I walked towards freedom. Before I left I heard Joey shout ‘What happened to revenge for your dad?’ I just told him I had revenge, I had humiliated Tony and then while he was at his most scared put him into the same place so he could meet my dad and have an eternity of pain and sorrow just as I went through while I watched my dad fall to the floor.
I was finally a free man, free of the visions of my father’s death, and free of all the violence and crime. It was the day of Lou’s funeral and except from his mom and girlfriend I was the only one there, it wasn’t the ocean of people he would have expected, but I knew he wouldn’t be made because I had lived up to his word I had made ‘The Riggiaza’s’ the biggest crime family. I watched as they lowered his body into the ground and then once it hit the bottom I turned and walked down the road to my father’s grave and knelled in front of it and said told him I had finally gotten revenge then I laid my flowers by his grave stone and stood up and walked out of the cemetery and just kept walking.
The End
